For the first time since the war in Gaza began in October 2023, Palestinian officials have said that dozens of people are dying of hunger.
At least 101 people are known to have died of malnutrition during the conflict, including 80 children, most of them in recent weeks, according to officials.
United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres has said malnourishment is soaring and starvation is knocking on every door in Gaza, describing the situation as a “horror show”.
Latest updates on the Middle East
Israel controls all supplies entering Gaza and has denied it is responsible for food shortages.
Some food stocks in the Palestinian territory have run out since Israel cut off all supplies in March and then lifted the blockade in May with new measures it said were needed to prevent aid from being diverted to militant groups.
Israel has blamed the UN for failing to protect aid it says is stolen by Hamas and other groups. The fighters deny stealing it.
Gaza food situation ‘worst it’s ever been’, charity says – as tank attack reportedly kills 12 at camp
Gazan doctor being held in ‘inhumane’ conditions in Israeli jail, says lawyer
Watch Deir al Balah skyline live from Gaza amid reports of Israeli offensive
‘There is nothing left’
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has said its aid stocks are completely depleted in Gaza and some of its staff are starving, with the organisation accusing Israel of paralysing its work.
“Our last tent, our last food parcel, our last relief items have been distributed. There is nothing left,” said Jan Egeland, the council’s secretary-general.
The NRC said that for the last 145 days, it has not been able to get hundreds of truckloads of tents, water, sanitation, food and education materials into Gaza.
COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, and Israeli authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel denies accusations it is preventing aid from reaching Gaza.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Aid workers ‘fainting due to hunger’
The NRC comments echo those made earlier by the head of the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA), who said doctors and aid workers have been fainting on duty due to hunger and exhaustion.
“Caretakers, including UNRWA colleagues in Gaza, are also in need of care now. Doctors, nurses, journalists, humanitarians, among them. UNRWA staff are hungry. Many are now fainting due to hunger and exhaustion while performing their duties,” UNRWA commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini said.
He warned that seeking food has become “as deadly as the bombardments”, describing the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution scheme as a “sadistic death trap”.
“This cannot be our new norm, humanitarian assistance is not the job of mercenaries,” he added.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
The UK, and several other countries, have condemned the current aid delivery model, backed by the Israeli and American governments, which has reportedly resulted in Israeli troops firing on Palestinian civilians in search of food on multiple occasions.
More than 800 people have reportedly been killed in recent weeks trying to reach food, mostly in shootings by Israeli soldiers posted near distribution centres.
Read more:
Gaza food situation ‘worst it’s ever been’, charity says
Israel launches ground assault on central Gazan city
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Israel ‘risking more civilian deaths’
Meanwhile, Israeli displacement orders followed by intensive attacks on the central Gaza city of Deir al Balah will lead to further civilian deaths, the head of the UN human rights office has said.
On Monday, Israeli tanks pushed into southern and eastern districts of the city for the first time after Israel issued an evacuation order.
The area is packed with Palestinians who have been displaced during the war in the coastal territory, and Israeli sources said the military believes hostages may be held there.
Now, Volker Turk, the head of the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, has said: “It seemed the nightmare couldn’t possibly get worse.
“And yet it does… given the concentration of civilians in the area, and the means and methods of warfare employed by Israel until now, the risks of unlawful killings and other serious violations of international humanitarian law are extremely high.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Tents sheltering displaced people ‘hit by strikes’
Also, at least 20 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza on Tuesday, according to officials in the Hamas-run strip.
Among them were 12 who died when tents sheltering displaced people in the Shati refugee camp on the western side of Gaza City were hit, according to Shifa Hospital, which treated casualties.
The dead included three women and three children, said hospital director Dr Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, who added that 38 other Palestinians were injured.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
And eight people were killed in an overnight strike that hit crowds of people waiting for aid trucks in Gaza City, according to hospitals. The Palestinian Red Crescent said at least 118 people were wounded.
Israel blames the deaths of Palestinian civilians on Hamas because the militants operate in densely populated areas. It accuses the group of prolonging the war because Hamas has not accepted Israel’s terms for a ceasefire – including calls to give up power and disarm.
Health officials say Israeli forces have killed almost 60,000 Palestinians in airstrikes, shelling and shooting since launching their assault on Gaza in response to Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, when 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken hostage.
